Medical Express reports about a new study in Lancet Planetary Health that shows that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) causes 1.85 million children around the world to develop asthma (new onset asthma) each year. About two-thirds of the children with new onset asthma live in urban areas. NO2 mostly comes from traffic pollution.
The proportion of children’s asthma in urban areas has decreased some since 2000, from 19.8 to 16.0%, showing that we have made some progress. But that’s still about 1 in 6 cases of new onset asthma caused by NO2, and shows we have a lot more work to do.
NO2 levels were highest where there are large populations, including North America, Europe, and south and east Asia. High income countries (such as the U.S.) have 16% of the children in the world, but 38% of the NO2-induced children’s asthma. So even though we have made strides in reducing NO2, there are still millions of children getting asthma because of our dependence on fossil fuels.
This is also an environmental justice issue. Black and brown communities are more exposed to NO2. This is because of our country’s environmental racism and our decisions to build highways, railyards, factories, and power plants in or near black and brown communities.
As this study shows, Healthy Air Is Healthcare. Too many children are breathing dirty polluted air and getting asthma. We need clean energy and clean transportation. We especially need clean transportation, including EV cars, buses, and trucks and infrastructure such as charging stations, because most of the NO2 comes from traffic related air pollution.
Read the news article in Medical Express here.
Read the scientific article in Lancet Planetary Health here.
01/06/2022
